


Interconnected

by SailorStarDust1



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst and Romance, Canon - Original Game, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Developing Relationship, F/M, Gift Fic, I REGRET NOTHING, Minor Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife, Minor Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough, Past Relationship(s), Together in Death, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 19:56:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20954051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorStarDust1/pseuds/SailorStarDust1
Summary: An unexpected, tearful, reunion. Their beautiful Planet now saved.





	Interconnected

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Macasaurus](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Macasaurus), [Himura_Komeri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himura_Komeri/gifts), [sanctum_c](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/gifts).

> I made myself tear up writing this, so everybody has to tear up reading it. (Also, I subconsciously channeled some of the prettier/peaceful EoE imagery in this. Whoops.) 
> 
> Though, sometimes I write out of spite and this is one of those times.
> 
> All that aside, this is a gift fic for two very dear friends of mine, Maura and Himura. This piece is also dedicated to Sanctum_C, who continues to be an inspiration with her beautiful FF7 works.

Sparkling emerald eyes, a warm smile full of love, that once had been so full of _ life_.

Holy, with the Lifestream’s aid, had saved the Planet. A very lucky opportunity for humankind.

Certainly, Aerith had played a key part in it all, her smiling face, her presence, fading away. Maybe now, they could all rest in peace. All those lives lost due to ongoing and utterly unfair madness.

On the deck of the _ Highwind_, Cloud and Tifa stood, side by side, with their friends. A calming presence washed over the current members of Avalanche as the frightening eyesore of the past two weeks, Meteor, vanished without a trace. 

Sunny and clear blue skies above, despite several cities in the distance—especially Midgar—worse for the wear. But now...now, their Planet had _ hope_. Former lives lost would be remembered, and rebuilding a bright future without Shinra’s corruption—or countless loss of precious life due to Sephiroth—was possible.

One by one, the Party descended back into the airship, leaving only Cloud and Tifa to remain up deck. Early morning sun warming their skin, a January chill in the air felt good. Refreshing.

Their shoulders brushed as a shy, honest, smile exchanged between them. The ride was smooth. His airsickness wasn’t a bother, for once. 

Perfect weather.

“Wanna go back down?”, he quietly asked.

“Yeah.”, she nodded, her teardrop earrings dangling. Hand in hand with the blond, her mind was already swimming with numerous possibilities for the future. Their group checking in with Elmyra and little Marlene in Kalm was first on the itinerary. Next, would be visiting the City of the Ancients. Thanking _ her_, for everything. Avalanche’s eventual departure that day—after a victory party in Costa del Sol at the Villa—would be sad, but expected. 

They all had the PHS to keep in touch, after all.

When it came to long term goals...maybe starting up a new bar? Something to at least _ eventually _consider, to bring a smile with good food and drink, to civilians that needed it.

“...?” Immediately he stopped in his tracks, hearing something unseen, against the horizon.

“Cloud?” Tifa cocked her head to the side, puzzled. Realization only hitting the brawler as a large shadow cast over the pair, and the airship’s deck.

One final delayed burst of pure Lifestream, heading straight in Tifa’s direction. With widening ruby eyes there was no other means of reacting, everything occurring in the blink of an eye.

His fingertips slipping away from her palm, he endured that head-splitting brunt of the blast to ensure Tifa’s safety, Tifa’s survival. 

She was going to _ live_. 

For the both of them.

“No! _ Cloud_!”

She hadn’t been able to reach him. He was slipping out of her line of sight.

No. _ No_. Not now! Not finally after the beginning of something truly beautiful between them, their confessed love under that gorgeous, glittering, starry night. All thanks to painfully regained mutual childhood memories and Cloud’s teenaged embarrassments, surfacing through that murky mess of muddled trauma. Together, discovering the truth of Cloud’s inner self.

It was far too cruel.

That blast of emerald energy pushed him with violent force through the other side of the wooden safety railings, his body plunging into the calm and glittering seas below.

“_CLOUD_!”

Miraculous chances of him surviving—at first contact despite his _third_ time of the Mako’s deep flow of memories would have been tragically low.

It was far too late.

* * *

The scent of flowers.

Lilies, roses, lilacs.

_ She _still smelled of flowers.

Her flowers, in the Sector 5 church that she’d laughingly exclaim to Barret and the others, full of fake-exasperation, “You guys, it’s not _ mine_! I’m not the head of the church!”

The softness of her lap. Felt like she was still wearing that pink, cotton, dress of hers. So cozy.

There was faintly, in the back of his mind, a familiar, cheerful, voice. _ His _ voice. But it was long gone, now as quick as it entered his mind. _ I just…wanted to see you again, one more time. I want to thank you, and apologize. For everything. _

“I’m sorry. He’s already returned to the Planet.”

Her voice. It sounded sad, like her smile didn’t quite reach her glittering emerald eyes. Same color of the Lifestream, a beautiful reminder of life, and love. Contrasting with the cold, alien, Mako of _ his_.

“Hey! Aren’t you going to _ finally _open your eyes, silly?” She was forcing cheer, now. Cloud’s eyes remained firmly shut. He’d refuse to see, when he was afraid. Terrified to his very core. Of course. They were in the Lifestream, and she was an Ancient. Baring their very souls and thoughts to one another was an automatic process.

“...No.” Honesty. Genuine fear. Had he been able to curl up within himself, he would’ve. His cocky persona from days gone by, an obvious weight from his past, another thing long vanished.

“Cloud.” She’d taken to poking at his cheek. Repeatedly. “C’mon~”

He wasn’t in the mood for her teasing (she’d sensed this, quickly stopping), despite a part of him thankful to see her again.

The other part? A miserable failure. That’s all he was.

“The Planet?”, he questioned, voice strained. Always screwing up. That was the real him, wasn’t it?

“It’s safe, remember? We did it.” Finally, at long last, her smile felt cheerful.

So, Cloud opened his eyes to meet Aerith’s smiling face, upside down from his perspective, staring back at him. Her lap was so warm. Soothing. Had he wanted to, he could shut his eyes. Fade away into nothingness. Into a new beginning, a fresh start to life. A tree? Maybe a butterfly? Or even a human child?

“Hi❤️”

“...Aerith...”; he began, before both shifted to sit propped up on their knees. He was immediately shushed by countless tender kisses on his forehead, his cheeks.

A real kiss never had been _their_ reality, always knowing the risks of her tragic life as the final Cetra—still full of warm, still full of love—always wanting a little more time not granted to her. All she ever wanted. To start a brand new relationship, with Cloud; to spend more time with dear friends such as Tifa and Yuffie.

“Why didn’t you dodge it? You could’ve _ easily_, with your reflexes. You decided to give up, instead?”

He flinched. Her angry tone was exactly like Tifa’s. He had no real answer. “No, I—”

He jerked immediately upright, recalling something important that had been nearly forgotten.

His beloved beautiful inner strength, his sole reminder of home. 

“_Relax_.”, Aerith’s hands fell to Cloud’s chest, oddly, traces of mirth sparkling in her eyes. “Tifa knows I caught you so you wouldn’t lose yourself again, for the third time. She’s safe, just heartbroken.” 

The brunette—Cloud finally took notice of her loose cascading waves of hair, ribbon and Holy naturally no longer on her being—calmly continued, “What girl wouldn’t be, with her hero deciding to sacrifice himself?”

He swallowed. Shame. Embarrassment. 

Always, it was Tifa and Aerth who understand one another so beautifully. His guesses about either girl’s hopes and dreams for the future had been dead wrong thus far. Truly, he had a lot to still figure out—and learn—about other people.

“Please...” His voice was trembling, now. Why was he so afraid? For what reason? It was _ her_, his beautiful, street smart, flower girl, sitting before him.

“Let me get to know you.”

She hesitated, blinking. Startled to wordlessly confirm, _ You sure? _

And then, in a shaky voice with glistening eyes, brimming with unshed tears, she offered, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Cloud.”

He couldn’t cry back then, at her death. Regardless of how desperately the heat stinging his eyes _ wanted _to flow. That yet-unknown Jenova within him simply wouldn’t allow it.

But now, he could cry openly. Mourn for the loss of his own life, his own chances cut short with Tifa, and openly grieve for Aerith and Zack both.

Now, he could work up the courage to kiss her, something he’d always wanted to do in life, finally granted in death. The memories of their date and her confession on the gondola ride, her warm hands clasping his, a mysterious smile and equally mysterious words, had left him with confusion rather than clarity.

Silent tears streaming down both their cheeks, Cloud’s lips lightly pressed against Aerith’s, uncertain. Aerith managed a smile at the innocent nature behind it, little by little deepening, setting things to her second beloved’s comfortable pace. Slowly. Gently. Tenderly. Literally all the time in the world, now. Arms mutually, tightly, wrapping around each other’s waist, the feel of something new, something fresh, a symbol of something to _ protect _even in death, filling both to the brim.

He needn’t reincarnate his soul, recycle it into new life, return to the Planet anytime soon.

That was what his strong-willed best friend decided. What the tragically lost Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, had decided. What slaughtered lives due to senseless destruction—like his mother, and everyone else in Nibelheim—or countless Shinra fodder caught up in the violent mess, had, half a decade ago, decided.

For Cloud himself, and for Aerith, there was no reason to fade away. Not just yet, when they had a greater purpose in waiting. For however many years it’d take to patiently wait to reunite with Tifa, and Barret, and all of their dear friends.

For now, Tifa and the rest of Avalanche would push forward, and continue living, on that beautiful Planet they saved.


End file.
